June marks the official beginning of summer. What a great time of year to get outdoors and practice the principles of reducing waste and honoring G-d’s creation, the Earth. Here are a few suggestions of summer activities to reduce your carbon footprint and help the environment.
Use natural methods to protect against the sun: Use of sunscreens is commonplace from May through August. Many sunscreens, however, contain chemicals and may be harmful to the skin and the environment. Look for a sunscreen made with organic ingredients and no chemicals. Read the ...
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by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen
This past Sunday, over 100 members of the Jewish community, from New Bedford, MA to Brattleboro, VT, gathered at Hebrew College in Newton, MA, for the first Jewish Climate Action Network conference, "From Uncertainty to Action: What You Can Do About Climate Change." According to Rabbi Arthur Waskow, it was the first conference of its kind, "I would have heard about it," he told us, if there had been another.
For four hours, we learned together, sang together, talked together, and connected to each other. And through all this, we were inspired, ...
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Earlier this week, I was scrolling through headlines, when I came across the following article: "Pope Top Adviser Blasts US Climate Skeptics." I am not sure I agree with his reasoning for criticizing those who deny that humans are having an impact on climate and on the environment in general, but I do agree with his using a position of moral authority to discuss the issue. This statement followed a conference held at the Vatican in early May, bringing together religious leaders to discuss climate change, where a different Cardinal stated that “a crime against ...
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By Rabbi Arthur Waskow
This past Shabbat, in the same mail–delivery to my door, there arrived both a copy of Rabbi David Seidenberg’s magnum opus Kabbalah & Ecology (published by Cambridge University Press), and the in-print Fall 2015 issue of Tikkun magazine, including an article of mine on “Prayer as if the Earth Really Matters. ”
My article encodes into liturgy an explicitly unconventional eco-Jewish theology. It joins a series of articles in that issue of Tikkun that are a kind of anthology of eco-theologies in various traditions: ...
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The holiday of Shavuot is coming soon. Shavuot celebrates the occasion of G-d giving the Torah to all of the Jewish people. It also is known as the Festival of First Fruits. In Biblical times, Shavuot was the first day in which individuals could bring first fruits to the Temple in Jerusalem. Listed below are a few things you can do to celebrate the environment and the natural world on this spring holiday.
Plant seasonal, native plants and flowers for the holiday: One Shavuot tradition involves decorating our homes and synagogues with festive flowers and ...
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Alex Hershaft, Ph.D., is coming to Israel from May 2 to May 13 to explain how his experiences in the Warsaw ghetto was a major factor in his becoming a leading animal rights activist. With the theme, "From surviving the Warsaw Ghetto to co-founding the U.S. Animal Rights movement,"Dr. Hershaft will be giving several talks and will meet with Jewish and Arab animal rights activists.
In his lectures, Hershaft will discuss how dealing with the trauma and grief over the loss of his family during the Holocaust shaped his values and outlook on life, and increased his sense of ...
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Last chance to help us make Israel a greener, environmentally healthier land: Until the end of April you can vote online for the upcoming World Zionist Congress. The results determine, among other things, the division of power at the Jewish National Fund’s international board.
For the past decade I have sat on the JNF board, largely because of the support and intervention of the Green Zionist Alliance – a wonderful group of young environmentalists who decided to get involved and improve Israel’s environmental performance. This support has allowed me to ...
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Below is the April 24 Jerusalem Post ‘In Jerusalem’ article about my vegetarian/vegan activities in Israel followed by my Times of Israel blog with links to YouTube videos of my talks, interviews, and other veg activities there. Kol tuv, Richard ==== Apocalypse Cow Jerusalem Post article [In Jerusalem section] April 24, 2015 By Gavriel Fiske [Corrections in brackets [ ]] Reducing meat consumption could help avert a global disaster, according to Jewish vegetarian activist Richard Schwartz Octogenarian vegetarianism activist Richard Schwartz, an Orthodox ...
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by Wendy Kenin @greendoula
News broke last week that a dozen Native Americans and a cultural consultant walked off the set of Adam Sandler’s new Netflix film under production because it was misrepresenting Apache culture and spouted derogatory lines about women and indigenous people. I stand with them!
It gets personal for us Jews who are activists for social justice when successful Jewish business persons in the entertainment industry perpetuate racism in mainstream society. On the heels of a long term campaign which erupted last year to change the name of the ...
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Excerpt from "The Dream and Its Interpretation," by A. D. Gordon, translated by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen
A. D. Gordon (1856-1922) was an early Zionist and pioneer in the Land of Israel. His words, written 100 years ago in totally different circumstances, resonate today when we read them through the lenses of climate change and environmental degradation.
We dreamed, you and I,
my brother and my sister,
interpreter it has none,
an ancient dream it is,
as the days when we went forth from exile,
but you forgot it or did not elucidate it for yoursel...
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With Earth Day coming tomorrow, a much larger percentage of the country, including the media, will be be focused on environmental issues. Due to its political volatility, many of the news stories tomorrow will be about climate change. There is no questions that the impacts from climate change will present our society with immense challenges in the future. I certainly hope that the focus of public discourse can shift from whether climate changes is man-made or not, to how we are going to face the impacts from climate change. The same applies to so many other ...
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We are so pleased on the progress of our solar energy project. The panels are on the roof.
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Recently, I've been more focused on teaching my baby to crawl than the state of the environment in Israel. But even for us moms living inside the family bubble, there's a world out there that sometimes needs our attention.
That's why I am proud to be part of the Green Israel slate for elections of the World Zionist Congress. If you care about the environment in Israel and have not yet voted in the election, your vote can make a difference in a greener Israel. You can vote here: https://myvoteourisrael.com/
The vote costs $10, which pays for the cost of the ...
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Every day and every meal, we make food choices. When we do, we invariably make an impact on the planet because different foods carry different environmental footprints. Below are a few things to keep in mind in terms of what you eat and its effect on God’s creation, the Earth.
Choose less meat in your diet: Most if not all of the climate pollution that our food creates happens before we buy it. The extent of these impacts depends on how much energy, land, feed or fertilizer, processing, and transportation is required to put a particular food on our tables. ...
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Voting green in elections for the World Zionist Congress can help repair the damage done by PM Netanyahu with his campaign rhetoric.
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You can support the Israel you want to see. All American Jews can vote in the World Zionist Congress election going on right now. One of the most common questions, we get is why it costs $10 to vote. As Mirele Goldsmith, a Green Israel slate member answers: "The American Zionist Movement has contracted with an independent company to run the online election. This is to insure that the election is fair. The registration fee is being used exclusively to pay for the election. It is not a donation to the WZO. I wish there was no fee, but it is a small price to pay ...
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Passover celebrates the exodus of the Jewish people from slavery to freedom. It is also rooted in the agricultural cycle of the year and coincides this year with the beginning of spring. It references a time when our ancestors were more connected on a daily basis to the natural world. To become more connected to the Earth and go “eco friendly” for this holiday, consider following all or some of the tips below:
Help the environment by reducing waste as you empty your home of chametz (leavened foods such as breads, pastas, etc). Give leftover bread and grain-...
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I do not know exactly when my inner emotional life first became coupled with our national situation. It certainly wasn’t as a child or teenager – when I was completely self-centered around my personal life experiences. Later, as a bleary-eyed young mother I had begun speaking about the “situation,” but with the kind of emotional detachment of someone who has too little time and is overloaded building home and career. But somehow and at some time it just happened: I saw the direct connection between what happens to us as a people, and what I was going through ...
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Because people voted for the Green Israel slate in past elections, there have been major improvements in how the JNF does business. It has adopted significantly better policies on forestry, stream restoration, and soil reclamation. JNF is taking the lead on green infrastructure and has established a program to prioritize quality of life improvements in Arab communities that have long been neglected by the JNF. The JNF has power, and we can leverage that power by voting.
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As we head into the last month of winter, being mindful not to waste (the Jewish principle of baal tashchit) and to care for the Earth should still be on your mind. Even in the cold months, there are things you can do to use less energy and find winter-friendly products that are less harmful to the environment. Below are a few suggestions:
User safer antifreeze: Just 2 ounces of the standard ethylene glycol antifreeze can kill a dog. Propylene glycol offers a much less toxic alternative (although with fossil fuel origins, it's hardly eco-friendly). Since both ...
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